Budget is minimal, less than 2k would be preferable. I'm guessing that a Midas Venice on sale is still out of my budget.

The Amek is being sold with issues and I'm not very good at fixing stuff, I assume it would be difficult/expensive to get parts for too.

The M2600 in Sydney looks good. What are they like to mix on? Are they fixable if something goes wrong? There's also a Mackie 32.8 but it's in Melbourne and I don't know that I could convince the better half to drive down there to pick it up.

The Amek is being sold with issues and I'm not very good at fixing stuff, I assume it would be difficult/expensive to get parts for too.

Most electronic parts would be generic, but there would be hardware that might be difficult to source, then if you're not a fixit man it's probably gonna be more trouble than it's worth. They are a nice desk though.

The M2600 in Sydney looks good. What are they like to mix on? Are they fixable if something goes wrong? There's also a Mackie 32.8 but it's in Melbourne and I don't know that I could convince the better half to drive down there to pick it up.

Lots of different views on these. Personally, I quite like them and I have one in my studio. Everything is fixable if you have enough money, these are no better or worse than other desks of their vintage. IMO either of these desks would be preferable to the Mackie.

Bob Charman - Stockport Sound, SAThe Road Goes On Forever and the Party Never Ends..........

Now DDA and Amek are towards the lower end of the "pro grade". They'd probably lose a shoot-out with a Neve or SSL console... but they are still miles ahead of the Tofts and Mackies of this world (and I'll refrain from using offensive words like be!@#$%^&).

So as someone who started out with a Mackie 32-8 (still have one in the store room) I'd strongly encourage you to look at Gareth's DDA, or even a troublesome Amek. 18 months ago I picked up a vintage Auditronics console from a T Rocker and it was the best decision I ever made. Yes I've had to get a tech out on more than one occasion, but whatever - quality is quality.

When you hear the difference between a mid-range desk like the Mackie and a serious recording console you'll know why my Mackie sits in the storeroom (we only keep it for when our ad hoc band decides to play a party).

IMO the Amek would give you the best bang for buck. If you could get it for less than $1000.00 then you have $1000.00 left in your budget to get a tech to check it out and fix it. From the description, it wouldn't need that much work anyway.

Bob Charman - Stockport Sound, SAThe Road Goes On Forever and the Party Never Ends..........

After much internetting, question asking and soul searching, I'm taking a leap into the (huge!) unknown and buying Gareth's DDA Q2. It will take a while to organise rebuilding the sound booth to accommodate the monster but I'm very excited!

At the same time I'm hoping to upgrade my FOH set-up, from mis-matched boxes with 1" horns to a set of something with 2" horns.

Got feelers out for JBL 1400s and going to Smithies to look at EV Mongoose and AUstralian Moniter QMX double 12s.

id go mongooses over the AM boxesno technical reasonjust in all my years mixing in dodgy clubs around the country, mongooses (geese?) have always sounded pretty good.and the AMs ive always struggled on